1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cleaning tape for cleaning a magnetic recording head of a magnetic tape recorder or the like, and more particularly to an improvement in the material used in the cleaning layer of a magnetic head cleaning tape.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a magnetic tape recorder a video tape recorder, video sheet recorder or the like, the magnetic recording material which coats the magnetic recording medium such as a magnetic tape or sheet is partly shaved off by the sticks on the surface of the magnetic recording head (hereinafter referred to simply as "magnetic head") of the recorder during the play thereof. Further, dust in the atmosphere also sticks on the magnetic head during play. The shaved off magnetic recording material and the dust adhering to the magnetic head will deteriorate the quality of the sound or image recorded on the magnetic recording tape or sheet.
In order to remove the extraneous material stuck on the magnetic head, it has been known to use a cleaning tape. The cleaning tape is used in the recorder in the same way as a normal recording tape. While the cleaning tape is in use in the recorder, the surface of the cleaning tape rubs the surface of the magnetic head and abrades the surface to remove the material stuck thereon.
Japanese Utility Model Public Disclosure No. 55808/1975 discloses a cleaning tape to be used for this purpose in which paper is laminated on a substrate of tape. This tape is disadvantageous in that the cleaning effect is insufficient. Since the binder constituting the magnetic layer of the tape or sheet is very sticky, the recording material stuck on the magnetic head is hard to remove. Therefore, it is very difficult to adequately remove the material by the cleaning tape having a paper layer. Further, in this type of cleaning tape, the fiber of the paper is liable to stick on the magnetic tape or sheet, and this causes dropout in the signal recording or reproduction.
Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 40504/1975 discloses a cleaning tape which carries on its substrate a cleaning layer containing particles having a diameter of 0.05 to 3.mu. dispersed in a binder. This cleaning tape abrades the material stuck on the surface of the magnetic head with the hard particles contained in the cleaning layer thereof. Therefore, this type of cleaning tape has a sufficient cleaning effect. However, since the particles contained are very hard, the surface of the magnetic head itself is scratched thereby. The scratches formed on the surface of the magnetic head in turn scratch the magnetic tape or sheet and the sensitivity and S/N ratio of the recording tape or sheet are apt to be lowered. The formation of the scratches can be prevented by using particles of comparatively low hardness. However, if the hardness is too low, the cleaning effect cannot be made sufficiently high. It is, therefore, very difficult to find the optimum hardness of the particles in this type of cleaning tape.